1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fastening device for fixing, for example, a car trim to a body panel through a screw.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, this kind of fastening device, although not shown specifically, is molded of an elastic metal thin plate such as a spring steel plate into an integral body which includes a top plate portion having a flat plate shape and a pair of leg piece portions respectively suspended from the two side edges of the top plate portion and having a U-like shape. Specifically, the top plate portion includes a nut hole which is formed in the central portion thereof and also into which a screw can be threadedly engaged; and, the leg piece portion is structured such that the inner piece thereof is inwardly greatly inclined, whereas the outer piece thereof includes a securing shoulder portion to be secured to the hole edge of a mounting hole opened up in the body panel, as disclosed in JP-A-2000-238585.
And, when fixing the car trim to the body panel actually, firstly, the leg piece portions of the fastening device are respectively inserted into the mounting hole of the body panel with the aid of the flexing of the outer piece, and the securing shoulder portions of the outer pieces of the respective leg piece portions are respectively secured to the hole edge of the mounting hole of the body panel from the back surface side. After then, while the top plate portion of the fastening device is pressed against the back surface of the car trim in such a manner that its through hole coincides with the nut hole, the leading end of the screw is inserted from the through hole of the car trim to thereby bring the screw into threaded engagement with the nut hole of the top plate portion. As a result of this, the pair of leg piece portions is caused to spread outwardly due to the shape of the inner piece thereof, whereby the car trim can be fixed to the body panel.